The actor’s new role as egomaniacal ping-pong prodigy Marty Mauser has seen him emerge as this awards season’s Best Actor frontrunner. It’s a watershed moment for a star whose ascendant career has not been without its teething issues, writes Xan Brooks
Seventy-five years after its release, Billy Wilder’s melodramatic satire on celebrity culture and faded stardom – starring Gloria Swanson as its grotesque heroine – retains its tragic grandeur, writes Xan Brooks
Artificial intelligence has given rise to a new breed of movie pundit – one that gloms onto consensus opinion and regurgitates rote praise. Xan Brooks looks out at this new frontier of film criticism and despairs